Abstract
Finite element analysis (FEA) was used to investigate the impact of interfacial bonding efficiency at pellet-pellet and pellet-clad interfaces of high-burnup (HBU) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) on system dynamic performance. Bending moments M were applied to FEA model to evaluate the system responses. From bending curvature, κ, flexural rigidity EI can be estimated as EI = M/κ. The FEA simulation results were benchmarked with experimental results from cyclic integrated reversal bending fatigue test (CIRFT) of HBR fuel rods. The consequence of interface debonding between fuel pellets and cladding is a redistribution of the loads carried by the fuel pellets to the clad, which results in a reduction in composite rod system flexural rigidity. Therefore, the interface bonding efficiency at the pellet-pellet and pellet-clad interfaces can significantly dictate the SNF system dynamic performance. With the consideration of interface bonding efficiency, the HBU SNF fuel property was estimated with CIRFT test data.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 40-52 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Nuclear Engineering and Design |
| Volume | 309 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 1 2016 |
Funding
Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). This research was sponsored by DOE UFDC and was conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC. The authors would like to thank Program Managers Bruce Bevard and Rob Howard for providing guidance and support to this project; and Edgar Lara-Curzio for reviewing this article.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| DOE UFDC | DE-AC05-00OR22725 |
| U.S. Department of Energy |